Gbenro Adesina
United Nations (UN), Libya and Nigerian Governments have condemned in strong terms the killing of a Nigerian who was set ablaze by three men in Tripoli, Libya.
The Nigerian migrant worker was burned to death by the three Libyans who stormed a factory in the Tripoli neighborhood of Tajoura, on Tuesday where African migrants were working.
The Tripoli-based interior ministry said in a statement that the Libyans detained the Nigerian, poured petrol on him and set him on fire. No motive for the shocking crime was given.
Three other migrants suffered burns and were being treated in a nearby hospital, the ministry said. The alleged perpetrators, all in their 30s, were arrested and referred to prosecutors for investigation, it said.
“The young man was burned alive, in yet again another senseless crime against migrants in the country,” tweeted Federico Soda, the chief in Libya for the International Organization for Migration.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “Sometimes you run out of adjectives to describe what we see in all too many places.”
“The people responsible for such a heinous attack need to be brought to justice,” he said. “This underscores, as if we needed to underscore yet again, how unsafe Libya is for migrants, for refugees, and how much the authorities on the ground still need to do to ensure the protection of these vulnerable people.”
According to a statement issued by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and signed by its spokesperson, Gabriel Odu, the commission, Libyan Interior Ministry and United Nation described the act as animalistic.
The statement reads in parts:
“The Chairman/CEO Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has condemned in strong terms the killing of a Nigerian, setting him ablaze by three men.
“Meanwhile a statement by the Libyan Interior Ministry has condemned the act insisting that it is a new wave of violence on migrants in North Africa. The United Nations has also described the Killing of the Nigerian man “another senseless crime against migrants in the Country.
“In the meantime, the full identity of the Nigerian man set on fire by petrol has not been made known as investigations and interrogations of the suspected attackers who are in custody are on going”.
